The BRAD BLOG

'Green News Report' - November 13, 2025

Desi Doyen — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 18:49:39 +0000

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Developing nations demand rich countries live up to promises at U.N. COP30 climate talks in Brazil; Trump plans to drill off the coast of California; PLUS: Thanks to NOAA, the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald was the last commercial freighter to sink in the Great Lakes, 50 years ago this week... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Where the sky keeps bursting: the eastern US is increasingly vulnerable to extreme rain, floods; Former Interior official: Trump is ‘rushing’ deep-sea mining; States blow past Colorado River deadline, Arizona wants feds to order water cuts; Built to Fail: Rules at UN climate talks favor status quo, not progress; How government shutdowns give polluters a free pass... PLUS: Five ways Joe Rogan misleads his viewers about climate change... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

COP30: Developing national demand rich countries live up to their promises:

COP30 climate loss-damage fund a big win, but who pays, benefits? (India Today)
At COP30, India calls for a ‘clear and universally agreed’ definition of climate finance (The Print)
Loss and Damage Negotiation Updates (CIGAR)
Climate-Hit Nations Hail Loss and Damage Fund’s Debut Call for Proposals at COP30 (Castle Journal)
Filipino climate activists at COP30 say loss and damage ‘not enough’ (ABS-CBN News)
VIDEO: U.N. Climate Summit Opens in Brazil as the Phillippines is Hit by Back-to-Back to Deadly Typhoons (Democracy Now)
AUDIO: Former Jamaican Climate Minister Una May Gordon (KPFA Evening News)
Brazil launches plan to scale climate finance to $1.3 trillion a year (Reuters)
Germany, Spain commit $100 million to climate change adaptation plan (Economic Times India)

Background on COP30:

Climate-fueled drought and floods are costing India lives and money:

Excess Rainfall Costs Mumbai $1.2 Billion and Caused 2,700 Deaths Every Year, Study Says (Univ. of Chicago):

Severe rains killed far more people in Mumbai than listed in public records, accounting for roughly 8 percent of all deaths in India’s financial capital during the monsoon season and $1.2 billion in losses every year in the decade through 2015, a new study shows.<./div>
Extreme rainfall poses the biggest risk to Mumbai’s most vulnerable people (Nature):

An assessment of death rates in India’s coastal megacity of Mumbai reveals the impact of rain, high tides and flooding.
The Ganges River is drying at an unprecedented rate, new study finds (Phys.org):

This lifeline for around 600 million people in India and neighboring countries is experiencing its worst drying period in 1,300 years. Using a combination of historical data, paleoclimate records and hydrological models, researchers from IIT Gandhinagar and the University of Arizona discovered that human activity is the main cause. They also found that the current drying is more severe than any recorded drought in the river's history.
Ganges River Hits 1,300-Year Low as Climate Crisis Intensifies (EnviroLink)
Recent drying of the Ganga River is unprecedented in the last 1,300 years (PNAS)

Trump Admin. plans to open California coast to offshore drilling:

Trump plan would open California to offshore oil drilling (Washington Post):

Trump officials are planning to open the California coast to oil drilling lease sales for the first time in decades, according to a draft map reviewed by The Washington Post, drawing condemnation from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom...The plan also envisions expanding drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, an area where drilling has generally been avoided because it faces stiff opposition.
VIDEO: Gavin Newsom, Trump's offshore drilling propoosal is "dead on arrival" (COP30 Brazil/Youtube)
AP Interview: Newsom says Trump climate-fighting absence is 'doubling down on stupid' (AP)

Thanks to NOAA, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the last frieghter to sink in the Great Lakes:

Tragedy on Lake Superior --- The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald (NOAA):

In 1975, the methods of maritime weather observation were in definite need of improvement. Only ship and shore reports were available to mariners, both accessible via VHF voice radio...Although the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald was an undeniable tragedy, the improvements in technology and observational methods that occurred as a result have had a lasting impact on maritime weather safety.
The true story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, 50 years after a tragic shipwreck (USA Today):

In the 1970s, Great Lakes freighters primarily received weather information through voice radio broadcasts from the U.S. Coast Guard and other marine reports by radio. Mariners would use this information to manually create their own weather charts. Observation technology at the time was much less sophisticated than it is today, relying on reports from shore stations and other vessels.
50 years later, Edmund Fitzgerald sinking leaves lasting effects on families, forecasting (Wisconsin Public Radio):

Her mother, Patricia, was the eldest of three children born to John Simmons, a wheelsman from Ashland who had been sailing with the Fitzgerald from its first voyage. And, at 64, she said the trip was set to be his last before retirement...[S]ome assets that have improved weather observations may be at risk under proposed federal budget cuts.
VIDEO: Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot recounts creating hit song, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ (CTV)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

Where the sky keeps bursting: the eastern US is increasingly vulnerable to extreme rain, floods (Washington Post)

Former Interior official: Trump is ‘rushing’ deep-sea mining (E&E News)

States blow past Colorado River deadline, Arizona wants feds to order water cuts (Colorado Public Radio)

Cruz, Cornyn push new retaliatory legislation that blocks U.S. water from going to Mexico (Texas Tribune)

Built to Fail: Rules at UN climate talks favor status quo, not progress (Inside Climate News)

At COP30, Brazilian meat giant JBS recommends climate policy (Civil Eats)

Zeldin kept up EPA roadshow during shutdown (E&E News)

How government shutdowns give polluters a free pass (Grist)

Five ways Joe Rogan misleads his viewers about climate change (Yale Climate Connections)

There’s a $10 trillion antidote to Trump’s climate backlash (Bloomberg)

Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in 'grim' report (Yale Climate Connections)

How Trump's War on Climate Science impacts all Americans (Bloomberg)

Solar Is Liberation (Rolling Stone)

Governments legally required to address climate change, global court says (Inside Climate News)

David Attenborough's 'Ocean' is a brutal, beautiful wake-up call from the sea (AP)

Wall Street Journal: Clean energy transition is unstoppable (This Is Not Cool blog)

Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech? (David Roberts, Volts)

Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)

Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)

Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)

How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)

How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry's Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)

The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)

How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)

Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)

Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)

Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)

Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)

Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)

Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)

Mamdani's 'Surprisingly Affordable' Affordability Agenda for New York City: 'BradCast' 11/12/2025

Brad Friedman — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 02:28:58 +0000

It's another busy day on The BradCast But what else is new? [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

FIRST UP... The U.S. House was finally back in session on Wednesday for the first time after the nearly two month paid vacation ordered by GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson during the nation's longest ever federal government shutdown. It should soon be over with tonight's House vote on an 11-week stop-gap Continuing Resolution --- at least until all of this happens all over again when the CR times out at the end of January.

With the reconvening of Congress, Arizona's newest Representative, Adelita Grijalva (D), was finally sworn in, nearly two months after her Special Election. As promised, she immediately became the 218th member to sign a Discharge Petition that, with signatures from a majority of the House, will now force a vote on the release of the Epstein Files being held by the Dept. of Justice and covered up there by order of Donald Trump. He reportedly appears multiple times in the DOJ's investigative files into the late child sex predator and Trump's longtime best friend, Jeffrey Epstein.

A vote to release those files should happen within seven days under House rules. But before Congress even reconvened today for the first time in weeks, several previously unseen emails written by Epstein were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. They reveal, among other things, Epstein asserting back in 2011 that Trump "spent hours at my house with" a victim whose name is redacted from the documents released today. And another email from Epstein in 2019 declaring "of course [Trump] knew about the girls."

THEN... New York City's Democratic Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ran on a so-called "Affordability Agenda" including promises of a Rent Freeze for about 30% of the city's tenants; Free and Faster Buses; Free Universal Child Care; and a pilot program for City-Owned Grocery stores across the five Boroughs.

So, how affordable for NYC is the Affordability Agenda promised by the charismatic 34-year old Muslim and self-declared democratic socialist who won by a landslide last week?

We're joined today by our old friend RICHARD (RJ) ESKOW, longtime columnist, host of the weekly Zero Hour television and radio program, and former lead writer for Bernie Sanders' 2016 Presidential campaign.

Eskow did the math on each of Mamdani's four top-line Affordability Agenda items, concluding that, at least three of the four of them, are "surprisingly affordable". Even the fourth, he finds, is also easily affordable if both city and state officials are willing to play along. That one will require raising taxes on millionaires in the city (who currently pay the same percentage of their income as a resident earning just $50,000) and on corporations, whose taxes will be raised to parity with the rate charged by neighboring states like New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire (while still remaining lower than they were before Trump's 2017 tax cuts).

"Every revolution should come this cheap," quipped Eskow after his analysis.

We run through the presumptive costs of each of the new Mayor's headline programs, discuss how they will be paid for (one of them should actually make money for the city), and why it is that these not-particularly-radical programs caused so many Republican (and many "conservative" Democratic) heads to explode during Mamdani's remarkable campaign.

These are programs for working people that "can make New York City a city for everyone again," Eskow tells me. "It's all doable. It's all affordable. The rest is just scare tactics."

He explains how the billionaires who went to war against Mamdani during the campaign simply "don't want to give up the money. It wouldn't cost them any more a year, it's a marginal tax, an incremental tax. They don't want to give up that 1%. They don't want to pay their property taxes on their luxury apartments."

"But more than that," argues Eskow, "it is the presentation. That working people deserve to have an affordable, pleasant, decent life in New York City, like they did for 200 years. I think that's what threatens them the most. And that's where the struggle comes in."

We also discuss how ginned-up fears about fairly unremarkable "democratic socialism" --- which rightwingers and billionaires like Trump tried to turn into "COMMUNISM!" during the campaign --- are both wildly misleading and little more than another scare tactic.

"If you like Social Security, if you like Medicare, if you want to strengthen and expand those programs, you may be a democratic socialist," he explains. Tune in for much more...

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After the Shutdown and Before the Next One: 'BradCast' 11/11/2025

Brad Friedman — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 02:53:45 +0000

Both the solutions to the problems we face and the problems themselves, are created and/or ultimately settled at the ballot box. In theory. So, once again, much of our coverage on today's BradCast --- both good news and bad --- revolves around that fact in one way or another. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

A good chunk of today's show focuses in on the fallout following Sunday's late-night capitulation by seven Senate Democrats and one independent who caucuses with them over the federal government shutdown. A central point is that the huge majority of Dems in both chambers of Congress did not capitulate. They stood united during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history in favor of holding out for the restoration of enormous cuts by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans to health care, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and Medicare.

And, while the shutdown's imminent end is a disappointment to many who wanted the fight to continue --- especially those who understand that the 7+1 caving Democrats received little to nothing in return for their decision to vote with the Republicans --- it's important to understand that the failure was not by "the Democrats", but by those 7+1 (and, arguably, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who shamefully failed to prevent it) and the hundreds of Republicans in both chambers who unanimously stand by their cuts to health care subsidies that will result in skyrocketing prices --- by as much as 400% or even higher as of January 1 --- for millions of Americans, along with the loss of coverage for millions and the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands.

It's also important to notice how well the Democratic caucus hung together this time --- how they are learning to fight in the Trump era, as opposed to similar situations in the recent past --- until a handful of rogue lawmakers undermined them on Sunday night. The Senators who caved should be held to account. Not the ones who didn't. That's particularly important to remember as the Continuing Resolution now working its way through Congress to reopen the government will time out again at the end of January, when all of this may start up all over again.

Tune in for much more detail and nuance on all of the above.

Among the stories cited in support of that particular argument, and other news covered on today's program...

Good news in the Gerrymandering Wars! A judge in Utah has ordered implementation of a new U.S. House map for 2026 that includes a new, heavily "blue" district in Salt Lake City. It will likely flip one of the state's four currently "red" seats in the U.S. House to "blue" next year.

Donald Trump's approval ratings continue to plummet through the shutdown and last week's blowout election results for Democrats. Relatedly, eight counties in California that voted for Trump last year voted in favor of Prop 50 last week, to redistrict the state to flip as many as five "red" U.S. House seats to "blue" in response to Trump and Texas Republicans' mid-decade gerrymander. (All further begging the question about the wisdom of the handful of Senate Dems to end the shutdown before affordable health care coverage could be restored to millions of Americans.)

While there are many reasonable arguments for reopening the government after 40 days of the longest shutdown in U.S. history, with many Americans suffering, even the right-leaning "center left" Third Way group slammed the supposed "moderate centrists" who caved on Sunday night. In a statement the group's President said they "oppose the agreement in the Senate to end the government shutdown," arguing: "This was a battle worth fighting, and it was worth fighting longer."

Trump issued full pardons over the weekend to 77 of his personal attorneys and political allies, including the fake electors in swingstates he lost, who worked so hard to try and help him steal the 2020 election. Those receiving clemency including folks like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Ken Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Christina Bobb, and many others involved in spreading lies about fraud in 2020, the fake electors scheme and the unlawful efforts to breach voting systems in places like Coffee County, Georgia. While many of those pardoned are facing state criminal charges, which a Presidential pardon can't change, none are currently facing federal charges. That begs the question of why he pardoned them and who else may be covered by the vaguely worded clemency statement. The Dept. of Justice's former Pardon Attorney, who was replaced by Trump, believes that the criminal President is sending a message that he has their back if they are needed to violate the law again to help him try and steal future elections.

On Monday, the corrupt, activist, rightwing U.S. Supreme Court majority announced they would hear a case regarding the Republican National Committee's challenge to Mississippi's law that allows mail-in ballots cast and postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive up until five days afterward. The RNC and Mississippi State Republican Party argue that when Congress defined "Election Day", they meant that lawful ballots could only be cast on that day. A SCOTUS ruling in their favor, against the State, could undermine elections in some 30 states with similar laws allowing for late arriving ballots, just in time to create chaos in the critical 2026 midterms.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, as a new round of U.N. climate talks kicks off in Brazil without U.S. in attendance; and as Australia finds itself with so much rooftop solar energy they are now planning to give it away for free...

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'Green News Report' - November 11, 2025

Desi Doyen — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 18:52:02 +0000

Follow @GreenNewsReport...

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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: U.N. climate talks begin in Brazil with calls for faster action, and without the U.S.; 200 million Americans hit with outbreak of Arctic Air; PLUS: Australia has so much solar energy, they're offering everyone free electricity... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): What is COP30, why does it matter and who will be at this year’s UN climate talks?; How Trump officials have transformed the EPA to weaken enforcement; New York gas pipeline gets permit, despite environmental concerns; Voter anger at high electric bills and data centers looms over 2026 midterms; Trump EPA moves to loosen restrictions it once supported on harmful HFCs; Trump Country coal miners with black lung say government is suffocating them... PLUS: Why Trump’s cuts to scientific research are a big win for China... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

200 million Americans hit with outbreak of Arctic Air:

Forecast: ‘Intense’ Snow In Great Lakes States And Record Lows In South (AP)
Why is it so cold across the southern US? And when will it warm up? (USA Today)
VIDEO: Polar vortex brings blast of cold air, early season lake effect snow (CBS News)
Polar ocean turbulence projected to intensify as sea ice declines (Phys.org):

A new study...presents new evidence that ocean turbulence and a process known as "horizontal stirring" will increase dramatically in the Arctic and Southern Oceans due to human-induced global warming and decreasing sea ice coverage...Given that such intensification of MHS is expected to induce major changes in ocean ecosystems as well as in the dispersal of marine pollutants, further research is urgently needed....
Why more frequent cold blasts could be coming from global warming (AP, 1/7/2025)
Is climate change affecting the polar vortex? (Yale Climate Communications, 2/1/2023):

Some researchers link disruptions to the polar vortex to climate change, while others attribute them to natural variability.

COP30 U.N. climate talks underway in Belem, Brazil:

Landmark Paris Agreement set a path to slow warming. The world hasn’t stayed on it (AP)
Climate-fighting efforts show slight gain but still fall short, UN says (AP)
Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, UN chief tells Cop30 summit (Guardian)
10 Years After a Breakthrough Climate Pact, Here’s Where We Are (NY Times):

The core idea was that countries would set their own targets to reduce their climate pollution in ways that made sense for them. Rich, industrialized nations were expected to go fastest and to help lower-income countries pay for the changes they needed to cope with climate hazards. So, has anything changed over those 10 years? Actually, yes. Quite a bit, for the better and the worse. For one thing, every country remains committed to the Paris Agreement, except one. That’s the United States.
Paris Agreement has curbed deadly heating, but not by enough (DW News)
2025 set to be second or third warmest year on record, continuing exceptionally high warming trend (WMO)
Six issues that will dominate COP30 (UNEP)
VIDEO: COP30: Opening Ceremony | UN Climate Change (UN Climate Change/Youtube)

Trump Administration is absent from COP30:

At UN climate talks in Brazil, the only sign of the United States is an empty chair (AP)
Leaders of world’s biggest polluters are no-shows as heads of state gather for UN climate summit (CTV News):

"Trump's stance affects the whole global balance. It pushes governments further toward denial and deregulation," said Nadino Kalapucha, the spokesperson for the Amazonian Kichwa Indigenous group in Ecuador. "That trickles down to us, to Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, where environmental protection is already under pressure."
The U.S. Is Skipping This Year’s Climate Summit. For Many, That’s OK. (NY Times)
Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, UN chief tells Cop30 summit (Guardian):

This forecast leaves the planet in dangerous territory but is considerably better than seemed possible 20 years ago. This is largely thanks to international support for the 2015 Paris agreement and a clean energy revolution that is gathering pace. But several powerful countries are stepping away from climate action as far-right nationalism takes hold, particularly the US.
Trump administration skips COP30 climate summit, leaving California's Newsom to hurl criticism from Brazil (CBS News)
VIDEO: CA Gov. Gavin Newsom on the importance of attending COP30 (Governor Newsom Press Office/Bluesky)

Australia offering free solar electricity during mid-day:

Australia has so much solar that it’s offering everyone free electricity| (Electrek)
Millions to receive free electricity in 2026 thanks to Australia’s solar boom (Tech Crunch):

The Australian government announced this week that electricity customers in three states will get free electricity for up to three hours per day starting in July 2026. Solar power has boomed in Australia in recent years. Rooftop solar installations cost about $840 (U.S.) per kilowatt of capacity before rebates, about a third of what U.S. households pay. As a result, more than one in three Australian homes have solar panels on their roof. "Now we’re at the level where we can share more of that power with more Australians," Chris Bowen, minister for climate change and energy, said in an Instagram video announcing the policy.

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

What is COP30, why does it matter and who will be at this year’s UN climate talks? (EuroNews)

How Trump officials have transformed the EPA to weaken enforcement (Washington Post)

New York gas pipeline gets permit, despite environmental concerns (Inside Climate News)

Voter anger at high electric bills and data centers looms over 2026 midterms (AP)

Trump EPA moves to loosen restrictions it once supported on harmful HFCs (AP)

Trump Country coal miners with black lung say government is suffocating them (AP)

Firefighters wear wristbands to track harmful exposures (C&EN)

EPA proposes approving fifth 'forever chemical' pesticide (Civil Eats)

Why Trump’s cuts to scientific research are a big win for China (Washington Post)

There’s a $10 trillion antidote to Trump’s climate backlash (Bloomberg)

Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in 'grim' report (Yale Climate Connections)

How Trump's War on Climate Science impacts all Americans (Bloomberg)

Solar Is Liberation (Rolling Stone)

Governments legally required to address climate change, global court says (Inside Climate News)

David Attenborough's 'Ocean' is a brutal, beautiful wake-up call from the sea (AP)

Wall Street Journal: Clean energy transition is unstoppable (This Is Not Cool blog)

Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech? (David Roberts, Volts)

Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)

Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)

Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)

How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)

How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry's Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)

The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)

How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)

Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)

Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)

Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)

Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)

Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)

Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)

Victories for Democracy in Election 2025; Also: 7 Dems, 1 Indie Vote to End Shutdown in Senate: 'BradCast' 11/10/2025

Brad Friedman — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 01:59:35 +0000

If it weren't for a handful of Democrats caving Sunday night in the U.S. Senate, we'd have spent the full hour on today's BradCast discussing last week's remarkable election victories for both the party and, more importantly, for democracy, voting rights and elections themselves. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

Such as it is, however, today show is a bit bifurcated.

FIRST UP... We're joined by journalist ALEX BURNESS of Bolts Magazine. The outlet did their usual yeoman's job of covering not just the topline election contests you may have heard about, but hundreds of other smaller or more under-the-radar elections in more than 30 states last week that you likely haven't heard as much or even anything about.

Today we focus with Burness on his article last week covering five different ways that last week's off-year elections will reverberate moving forward on issues like mail voting, felony disenfranchisement, mid-decade gerrymandering and related election matters in at least five states. In almost every case --- from redistricting in California and Virginia, to restoring felony voting rights in Virginia, to a Photo ID initiative in Maine, to election scheduling in New York, to "the backstop of democracy" in Pennsylvania --- the news for voters and voting rights advocates was very good indeed. (Texas was, as usual, like a whole 'nother country. Tune in for those details.)

THEN... We turn back to the federal government shutdown, now the longest in U.S. history, following last week's enormous wins for Democrats at the polls in state after state; Donald Trump's approval rating at all-time, historic lows; and clear pluralities of Americans blaming Republicans for the shutdown, as Democrats were seen as united in their fight to restore trillions of dollars in health care cuts for millions of Americans (to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and even Medicare) made by Trump and the GOP.

With that backdrop and the wind very much at the backs of the Dems in this fight on Sunday night, seven Democratic Senators --- Tim Kaine (VA), Dick Durbin (IL), John Fetterman (PA), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), and Jacky Rosen (NV) --- and one independent who caucuses with them (ME's Angus King), decided this would be the perfect time to undercut their own caucus by jumping ship to vote with Senate Republicans to allow them to reopen the government. None of the eight turncoats are facing reelection next year.

What did they get for Dems in return? The promise of a vote in the Senate, perhaps in December, on restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies. That's it. No promise of a similar vote in the U.S. House (where Republicans control the majority anyway), and no promise that Trump would even sign such a bill if the GOP allowed passage in both chambers.

In other words, at least as I see it, those 7+1 Dems got nothing in exchange for their votes, and the rest of the caucus, in both the Senate and House, is reportedly furious about it. On the other hand, thousands of federal workers will be paid again and the critical Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will now eventually be restarted...albeit at lower levels following Trump and the GOP slashing some $180 billion from the program in their so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" over the Summer.

You'll note that Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is not among those who voted on Sunday night in favor of reopening the government. He voted against it. But, of course, those seven Dems would not have moved forward without his approval. Or, if they did, it's just more evidence of what an awful Leader he is for the Party right now, and how much he needs to be both replaced as Leader in the Senate immediately and primaried out of the Senate entirely next year.

That's my take anyway. At the end of today's show we have time for just a few callers. At least one of them sees things somewhat differently --- at least, sees a brighter side to all of this --- and, for the record, notes that the Government reopening also means that there will (or should) soon be a bipartisan vote on releasing the full Epstein Files in the U.S. House. We'll see if that comes about as the week proceeds. I'm not yet holding my breath...

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Sunday 'Ass Kicking' Toons

Brad Friedman — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:35:19 +0000

...IN MEMORIAM...

...NEXT WEEK...

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'We Can See Light at the End of the Tunnel' After Election 2025: 'BradCast' 11/6/2025

Brad Friedman — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 01:51:57 +0000

Today on The BradCast: Analysis (and giddiness) continues amid the fallout from Election 2025, during which the bottom appeared to drop out for Team Trump --- at least for now --- pretty much everywhere that voters turned out in some 30 states holding off-year local or statewide elections. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

We're joined today by listener faves and fellow old-school bloggers HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Digby's Hullabaloo and 'DRIFTGLASS' of the Professional Left Podcast in the wake of Tuesday's remarkable elections, in which Democrats and other anti-Trump voters made their opposition to the failed first year of the second Donald Trump presidency crystal clear --- even to Republicans who care to take notice.

Not only did Democratic candidates --- from the left to the center --- win, so did ballot initiatives supported by them. And, not only did they all win, they all won by huge margins in virtually every jurisdiction across the country holding elections on Tuesday, in both high and low profile contests and ballot initiatives from Maine to New York City to New Jersey to Virginia to Georgia to Mississippi to Pennsylvania to California and beyond.

"Trump and Trumpism, and this style of politics that he has brought into the Republican Party, the cult of personality that has been dominating our country over the last decade --- I think we can see a light at the end of the tunnel here," Digby argues. "Trump is now officially a lame duck. It's earlier than people thought it would be. It sent a shock-wave, I think, through the Republican Party that he's on his way out. And now, let the games begin. Because the fighting within the Republican Party is going to be a glorious thing to see."

"I was surprised how deep the coattails were, how deep the 'blue' ran in all these elections," observes Driftglass. "I am very confident now that a bunch of 'blue' states can redistrict with confidence." Rooting on Texas Republicans to please proceed with their gerrymandering, he continues: "Please, go ahead and do that. Because I think they did not understand that lots of large blocks of voters were not theirs permanently. We saw huge shifts in almost every demographic [on Tuesday]. 'Blue' won everywhere. And that should send a signal to Democrats everywhere it's okay to take risks, it's okay to be who you are, say what you believe and swing for the fences, because that is now being rewarded."

Among the many related and unrelated topics discussed today...

The death and legacy of Dick Cheney.
The announced retirement (next year) and legacy of Nancy Pelosi.
The fallout from the surprising results of Election 2025.
The media failures in the leadup to the election.
The ridiculous, cowardly failure of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York (and other "leading" Dems) to endorse the young, charismatic Democratic sensation, now NYC Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.
Are those establishment Dems more afraid Mamdani will fail? Or that he will succeed?
Who's more of a socialist, Mamdani or Trump?
Does Trump even know what "socialism" means, much less "communism"? (Much less whatever fairly moderate and measured affordability measures Mamdani ran on in his NYC campaign?)
The D.C. Sandwich Guy is found "not guilty" of misdemeanor assault with a deadly hero. ("That's a 'wrap'," quips Driftglass. "Another example of the Trump Administration not knowing how courts work.")
After Gov. Gavin Newsom's Prop 50 redistricting measure's resounding success in California on Tuesday, will other Dem Governors follow suit?
Will Trump-ordered mid-decade GOP gerrymanders come back to haunt them next year?
Will Tuesday's results finally bring Republicans any closer to ending the federal government shutdown?

And more! Including Desi Doyen and our latest Green News Report on the critical climate races in Tuesday's elections and Brazil's successful climate fight against deforestation under its new President...

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'Green News Report' - November 6, 2025

Desi Doyen — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:24:44 +0000

Follow @GreenNewsReport...

(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Democrats win in key climate races in the 2025 Elections; Climate change raised in Supreme Court oral arguments over Trump's 'emergency' tariffs; PLUS: Brazil's fight against deforestation is paying climate dividends... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

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Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): India’s Ganga River drying at unprecedented levels; What the last gas boom (and bust) says about today’s rush to build; Trailer: The White House Effect; Fishermen missing in Vietnam as Philippines mourns dead from Typhoon Kalmaegi; FAA reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 ‘high-volume’ markets during government shutdown; Brazil launches plan to scale climate finance to $1.3 trillion a year... PLUS: Australia has so much solar that it’s offering everyone free electricity... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

Democrats win in key climate races in the 2025 Election:

U.S. Climate Politics Almanac: 2025 State Elections: Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia (Hill Heat):

Relentless Republican attacks on socialists, immigrants, trans people, and the Green New Deal only seemed to increase enthusiasm for change from the voters, who are buckling under the plutocratic regime’s surging costs for food, housing, and electric utilities.
Promises of lower energy bills win big on election day (LA Times):

The elections came as residential electric bills have increased about 10% in the U.S. this year. In New Jersey, bills surged 20%.Renewables such as wind and solar are the cheapest forms of new electricity generation, data show.
New Jersey and Virginia's races will be powered by the soaring cost of electricity (NPR)
Debate over energy costs fuels clear divide in New Jersey and Virginia governor's races (AP)/li>
VIDEO: Mikie Sherill on climate change, New Jersey Gubernatorial Debate 2025 (YouTube)
VIDEO, transcript: Abigail Spanberger Victory Speech (Rev)
Democrats Sweep on Election Night in Key Climate Races (Heatmap)
Youngkin Vetoes Clean Energy Bills That Garnered Support From Dominion, Environmental Groups (Williamsburg Daily)

Free public transit and bus programs work:

Can Zohran Mamdani’s Free Bus Promise Get Out of the Parking Lot? (The City)
Free Buses Would Mean 12% Faster Rides And 20% More Riders: Study (Streetblob NYC)
Eliminating Fares to Expand Opportunities: Experimental Evidence on the Impacts of Free Public Transportation on Economic and Social Disparities (Arizona State University)
Ways of increasing transit ridership-lessons learned from successful transit agencies (Science Direct)
Zohran’s Proposals Are Surprisingly Affordable (Zero Hour Report)

Voters elect climate hawks to Georgia's Public Service Commission:

Georgia Democrats win big over GOP incumbents in 2 statewide utility regulator races (AP)
Why This Year’s Elections for the Public Service Commission Matter So Much (Georgia Conservation Voters)
Why Georgia’s important Public Service Commission election has historically had low turnout (WALB-Albany, GA)
Energy bills are rising nationwide. In Georgia, they're on the ballot (Canary Media)
AUDIO: Pay attention to the most important political race of 2025 (Volts):

A conversation with Peter Hubbard, candidate for the Georgia Public Service Commission, and Brionté McCorkle of Georgia Conservation Voters.

Dick Cheney left a legacy of climate obstruction:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney Dead at 84: A Legacy That Shaped – and Shaped Against – Sustainability and ESG (ESG News)
Climate change denial hit its stride in the Bush-Cheney era, precipitating today’s climate disaster (Salon, 6/19/2023)
When Bush and Cheney doubled down on fossil fuels: A fateful choice for the climate (Brookings)
Cheney’s Office and the Course of Climate Policy (NY Times, 7/9/2008)

Climate change appears in US Supreme Court oral arguments over Trump's tariffs:

Supreme Court seems to think Trump’s tariff plan is a major question (E&E News):

At least one conservative justice expressed concern that a win for President Donald Trump could create an opening for a future president to declare a climate emergency.
Neil Gorsuch Is Worried Tariffs Could Create a ‘Climate Emergency' (Heatmap)
Trump's Attorney Concedes: His Legal Theory Would Let a President Tax Foreign Cars To Combat Climate Change (Reason)

Brazil's fight to halt deforestation is delivering climate dividends:

Brazil records biggest annual fall in emissions in 15 years, notably thanks to fight against deforestation (Le Monde):

Brazil recorded its biggest annual fall in greenhouse gas emissions last year since 2009, according to statistics released Monday, November 3, providing a boost for left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as he prepares to host UN climate talks. The gross emissions of Latin America's biggest country fell by 16.7 percent year-on-year, according to Brazil's Climate Observatory, a network of environmental NGOs.
Brazil’s Amazon deforestation falls 11% even as fires surge to record levels (AP)
Carbon offsets are failing. Can a new plan save the rainforests? (Yale Environment 360)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

India’s Ganga River drying at unprecedented levels (Mongabay)

What the last gas boom (and bust) says about today’s rush to build (Utility Dive)

VIDEO: Trailer: The White House Effect (This Is Not Cool)

Fishermen missing in Vietnam as Philippines mourns dead from Typhoon Kalmaegi (AP)

Australia has so much solar that it’s offering everyone free electricity| (Electrek)

FAA reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 ‘high-volume’ markets during government shutdown (AP)

Brazil launches plan to scale climate finance to $1.3 trillion a year
(Reuters)

Push to counter disinformation at COP30 climate summit (DW News)

There’s a $10 trillion antidote to Trump’s climate backlash (Bloomberg)

Climate-fighting efforts show slight gain but still fall short, UN says (AP)

AI is pushing climate groals out of reach, new reports say (Inside Climate News)

Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in 'grim' report (Yale Climate Connections)

How Trump's War on Climate Science impacts all Americans (Bloomberg)

Solar Is Liberation (Rolling Stone)

Governments legally required to address climate change, global court says (Inside Climate News)

David Attenborough's 'Ocean' is a brutal, beautiful wake-up call from the sea (AP)

Wall Street Journal: Clean energy transition is unstoppable (This Is Not Cool blog)

Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech? (David Roberts, Volts)

Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)

Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)

Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)

How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)

How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry's Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)

The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)

How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)

Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)

Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)

Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)

Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)

Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)

Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)

TEAM BLUE TRIUMPH! Dems Win Everything Everywhere All at Once: 'BradCast' 11/5/2025

Brad Friedman — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 01:43:58 +0000

We've covered a lot of Election Nights on The BradCast over the years. But it's difficult, if not impossible, to remember one where Democrats (and anti-GOP, anti-Trump voters) won pretty much everything in every corner of the country. [Audio link to full show follows below this summary.]

True, it was an off-year election. Only about eight states even had statewide contests. But there were also local races in about 30 states. And, wherever voters voted, Team Trump lost on Tuesday. Badly. From "blue" California, to "purple" Virginia, to rural Maine, to battleground Pennsylvania, to deep "red" Mississippi and everywhere in between. And they lost by a lot in almost every case, whether it was for a candidate or an initiative on the ballot.

We run through as many reported results as we can fit in today --- both high profile contests and some that were deep under the radar --- before sharing an excerpt of the electrifying victory speech from Democratic New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who just blew the roof off the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with one of the best victory speeches I have ever seen. Actually, one of the best political speeches, of any kind, I have ever seen.

Then we're joined by longtime progressive journalist and author JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation magazine, where has been covering Mamdani, and many other progressives up and down the ballot --- along with the more centrist candidates in between --- for many months now, during the run-up to Tuesday's elections: the first time since Donald Trump took office for his failing second term that voters have been able to register their opinions about him at the ballot box in a whole bunch of states at once.

"We have had so many conversations where we are trying to find the straw" of good news following an election, Nichols observes, referencing our many post-election conversations. "But now we are in the bizarre, reverse position where, when you look across the entire United States, you are very hard pressed to find any disappointing results. And the reason for that is pretty simple. Donald Trump, a year after his election, nine months into his second presidency, it has been an unmitigated disaster."

"Last night, you got the confirmation that across this country, from New York to Virginia, to New Jersey to California --- but also to Mississippi, where they took away the Republican supermajority in the state Senate; to Georgia, where they were winning Public Service Commissions that they never win; to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Mayoral races in Iowa --- it was just across the board that Democrats won and won and won."

Beyond that, however, there are a lot of details to discuss, regarding why it happened and what message both Republicans and Dems need to take from what happened on Tuesday and, in particular, from the landslide election of the charismatic, 34-year old, Ugandan-born, Muslim, Democratic socialist immigrant whose charm offensive, good humor and promises of a tangible Affordability Agenda for NYC have now made him its next Mayor. And how, incredibly, it is even possible that many establishment Democratic Party leaders --- including U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York --- couldn't bring themselves to endorse the Democratic nominee for Mayor of NYC.

Are they most fearful that Mamdani will be a failure? Or that he will be a success?

We discuss all of that and much more on today's BradCast...

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Republican Thuggery While Americans Vote: 'BradCast' 11/4/2025

Brad Friedman — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 02:32:27 +0000

Today was Election Day for major contests in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia and California, not to mention about 30 other states which also held either statewide or local off-year contests. We'll have full reported results for you, of course, on tomorrow's BradCast. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]

In the meantime, there was a whole lot going on today, while America votes...

Several polling places were temporarily closed in more than half a dozen New Jersey counties on Tuesday following threats, reportedly via email, ultimately determined by officials to be "non-credible". One local official suggested the emails may have originated "abroad", bringing to mind the emailed bomb threats that resulted in temporary evacuations of a number of polling places in at least five different battlegrounds states on Election Day during the 2024 Presidential election. Those threats were reported, at the time, to have come from IP addresses in Russia.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney died on Monday at the age of 84. His family announced the news today. We share some thoughts.

The Trump Administration has fired yet another government watchdog whose job it was to root out waste, fraud and abuse at a federal agency. This time, according to a Reuters exclusive, it was the acting Inspector General at the Federal Housing and Finance Authority (FHFA), whose Trump-appointed activist Director, Bill Pulte, has been issuing bogus criminal referrals to the DoJ about "mortgage fraud" purportedly committed by Donald Trump's political foes, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). The IG in this case, a 40-year veteran DoJ prosecutor, was said to have been in the process of notifying Congress that FHFA leadership was violating the law by refusing to cooperate with the Office of the Inspector General. To date, the Administration has fired almost 20 IGs at almost every major (and not-so-major) federal agency or department.

Trump's corrupt Attorney General Pam Bondi filed legal documents on Friday in hopes retroactively fixing some pretty huge problems with the weaponized political indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and NY A.G. Letitia James. The filings attempt to rewrite history regarding the corrupt and almost certainly unlawful appointment of Trump's former insurance lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, as Interim U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. She was expressly appointed to the position after Trump's previous USA either resigned or was fired for refusing to file the politically motivated charges demanded by Trump, due to lack of evidence.

Trump, almost certainly looking at an embarrassing loss tonight in California's Prop 50 initiative --- which would temporarily rewrite the state's Congressional map in response to a Trump-ordered U.S. House gerrymander in Texas over the summer --- was already falsely claiming this afternoon that the contest was somehow "rigged". CA's Sec. of State called out his evidence-free bullshit in a statement late today.

Speaking of the Gerrymandering Wars kicked off by our desperate and incredibly unpopular President, Gov. Wes Moore, in the Democratically-controlled state of Maryland, announced a new Commission to consider jumping into the redistricting game before 2026. Maybe.

Voting Rights advocates had a big victory on Friday, as one of two federal judges overseeing different lawsuits against Trump's bogus election-related Executive Order, issued a permanent ban on his attempt to mandate proof of citizenship documents by those registering to vote with the national voter registration form. The judge made clear --- as we did when Trump originally issued his dumb EO --- that Presidents have zero legal or Constitutional authority regarding elections.

Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with a grim humanitarian crisis brewing in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean following last week's monster Hurricane Melissa; record rainfall in New York City; incredibly alarming glacial retreat in Antarctica; and the Trump Administration's Godfather-like thuggery used to block the world's first-ever emissions rules for international shipping...

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